After ambulance gets stuck in ice, paramedics go the extra mile for patient and push her up hill

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, MO (KTVI/CNN) - Two Missouri paramedics went above and beyond the call of duty this week, pushing a patient nearly a mile up an icy hill to get her to the hospital after their ambulance got stuck.

The two firefighter paramedics with the Maryland Heights Fire Department were out on the messy highway last weekend, called to an accident involving a bus.

They needed to get the driver to the hospital.

"Once we got off at the exit … we lost traction, even with the chains applied, and the ambulance slid into a guardrail,” said Shaylor Taetz, one of the paramedics. “Once the ambulance slid into the guardrail, we actually had to salt around the truck to get it back out."

But the ambulance wasn’t going anywhere. Taetz and his partner, Jonathan Stillpass, devised a plan B.

"It was Shaylor's idea to go ahead and huff it up this hill,” Stillpass said. “And I told him, I was like, ‘That's a pretty big hill.’ But it was his idea, and to his credit, we decided to go ahead and walk the patient up there to get her the care that she needed.”

The two put Yaktrax ice grips over their shoes, and prepared for the nearly mile-long walk

"It's just work,” Stillpass said. “You know, me and Shaylor both, you know, are young fit guys. So we didn't mind having to push her up the hill."

They said the woman was very grateful, and several drivers even stopped and offered to help.

“She was very appreciative, very thankful. And she talked to us the whole way and she just couldn't thank us enough,” Taetz said. “So, she was very sweet."

And when they finally made it up the icy hill, there was a moment of “sweet relief,” according to Taetz.

“It was kind of nice to finally get to the hospital, and you know get her into a hospital room and get her taken care of,” he said. “And then we could actually take a load off for a little bit."

The two men said they had no idea someone had taken a picture of them, which went viral, while they were going up the hill.

They said they're enjoying all the nice comments people have been leaving, thanking them for their hard work.